The fall soccer season has come to an end. It was a cold, rainy, season. All of the children did very well and grew in their athletic ability. The boys scored several goals this year. Peyton scored 2 I think, but they were both for the opposite team :-) She was so much less timid this year than last. They had a lot of fun and we got to enjoy the outdoors during God's most beautiful season. Only the twins team did pictures.

Schooling is going well. The biggest help for me is having my weekly schedule folder. It helps me see what I want to get accomplished and see visual progress.

We twins watched a video each on the country they chose for Geography Fair coming up. Kaden is doing Russia, and Peyton is doing Italy. We got a lot of books from the library and we'll be working hard on these posters this week. It is actually a lot of work for me. Kyle had to change his country to Sweden b/c there wasn't a lot of information about Indonesia. In fact I nearly insisted that he choose a country that I could find a free lapbook for, which would help me greatly. So out of the list I gave him he chose Sweden.

4th Grade:
Continued with Robinson Crusoe and Ben Franklin. I intially checked out Ambleside's suggestion, Bulfinch's Mythology and we read it for a few weeks. I found a comparable book at the thrift store and bought it. I like it much better! Bulfinch's Mythology is very wordy, and the print is very small. In the introduction the author makes clear that no one worships the diety's we read about, but that by knowing these characters and stories you will better be able to understand and appreciate other great works of literature that utilize these characters, events, and stories. Much of the meaning in many works of literature are lost because people are unfamiliar with the subject. In Bulfinch's mythology after every story, he inserts familiar works of literature which have used quotations from the myth.

Spelling we worked on long i words and he got 100% correct. He finished lesson 33 in Saxon 5/4 as well as addition and subtraction drills. This week in history we learned how New Amsterdam became New York. Last week we looked at the Salem Witch Trials. And it being Halloween season I showed him what events were taking place in Salem, Mass. and how they are tying in the witch trials. We looked in God's Word about witchcraft, sorcery, etc.

We also learned about Maryland and how it was a refuge for Catholics. We learned some the basic tenets of the Catholic faith and searched in the scriptures. I am trying to teach him to search the Word for answers. Even the Catholic Encyclopedia is full of well sounding definitions and lofty words, but they don't have the power of God. We specifically talked about and researched the dangerous and damning idea of purgatory, the exaltation of Mary the mother of Jesus and the claim that she was sinless, the belief that the Bible and the PRIEST are infallible,the Apocrypha, and the reverence and elevation of tradition.

1st Grade and Preschool

Continued working through 100EZ lessons. Kaden ended on Lesson 53 and Peyton 49. I may take a break from the book for Petyon this week and let her just focus on sounding out words and building her confidence. I can see where she is starting to get stressed out. Math was lesson 6 which was writing 1-100. We are writing 1-20 consecutively, counting by tens, and tyring to write the 1-100 non-consecutively. They both love math games at fun4thebrain.com. Kaden will play for an hour.

I keep in Instant Queue things to watch when I have to go some where. I recently added How It's Made, I think it's from the science channel. Animals that Defy Evolution, God of Wonders, The Case for Christ.

We are going into Week 9 this week. Our semester ends at 12 weeks, so I really need to start preparing for the second semester. I need to do a weekly syllabus and print out all the online books and put them in page protectors.